Bristol-born Hooper arrived at Filbert Street as part of a loan deal with Liverpool - Carl Muggleton went the other way. he arrived initially for a month but ended up seeing his deal extended twice as he tried his best to strengthen a leaking Foxes defensive line.
Breaking through with his hometown club Bristol City, Hooper moved on to Wrexham and eventually made his way to Anfield, playing largely as an understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar. He had an opening two games to forget to his loan stint with the Foxes, conceding ten goals, but soon found favour amongst the City faithful by stopping his side suffering complete embarrassment on the score front on a few occasions.
On his return to Merseyside he actually started playing more regularly but picked up an injury that thwarted his progression at Anfield. He moved on to Newcastle United but played largely second fiddle to Pavel Srnicek. He was released from his contract with United and retired from the game due to back injuries.